Mariah Hubbard, an Absegami graduate now a junior at Monmouth, won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference triple jump title Sunday after three straight second-place finishes!

Hubbard jumped a personal-best 39-9 3/4 to win her second conference title by more than a foot over teammate Patrice Baston, who jumped 38-7 3/4. Boston also won the long jump and was named Field Event Athlete of the Meet.

In all, the Galloway Township native recorded three personal-bests in the meet at Ocean Breeze in Staten Island, N.Y., helping Monmouth win its sixth consecutive women’s title.

Hubbard hit the winning leap on her first attempt, but she also had a 39-8 and a 39-3 1/2 in her series, so she had the three-best jumps of the entire competition. Her fourth-best jump matched Baston’s 38-7 3/4, which was her only legal jump of the competition.

The 39-9 3/4 broke Hubbard’s previous indoor PR of 39-4, which she set two years ago as a freshman at the same meet. She’s No. 2 in Monmouth history behind Ashley McKinnon, who jumped 40-4 3/4 last year.

Hubbard won the MAAC triple jump title indoors as a freshman in 2017 and then placed second outdoors as a freshman and second both indoors and outdoors as a sophomore before reclaiming the title on Sunday.

Hubbard also placed third in the long jump with an 18-4 1/2 effort and took sixth in the high hurdles with a personal-best 9.01 in the final.

At Absegami, Hubbard was a state champ and Meet of Champions medalist in the triple jump and sectional champ in the high jump.

Monmouth outscored second-place Rider 187 1/2-133, with Manhattan third (117 1/2).

The Easterns meet that we now know traces its lineage to the old AAU national high school championships first held at the old Madison Square Garden at 50th Street and 8th Avenue back in 1934.

That meet remained at the Garden until 1965, when it moved to the old 168th Street Armory in Washington Heights. It stayed there until 1972, run first by the New York Catholic High School Athletic Association and later by the Staten Island Coaches Association.

In 1973, a conflict of dates caused the meet to be cancelled and that placed the future of the meet in peril.

But the New Jersey Catholic Track Conference stepped in and took over, moving the meet to Princeton University‘s Jadwin Gym. The Easterns, as the meet was now known, soon became the most competitive indoor high school track meet in the nation.

In 1980, the girls Easterns debuted in Boston and continued there until 1996, when it merged with the boys meet. Now under the jurisdiction of the Bergen County Track Coaches Association, it was held for one more year at Princeton before moving back into the newly refurbished 168^th Street Armory in 1998.

The meet has remained at the Armory for two decades now and on Tuesday enjoys its 85th running.

I’ll be posting all-time top-10 performance lists tomorrow, but click here for the final approved 2019 Easterns entries!

The 51st annual Boys Meet of Champions is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday at the Bennett Center in Toms River, and the NJSIAA has released the performance lists compiled from the various state meets this past weekend.

You can download the pdf file courtesy of New Jersey MileSplit here.

 

The 51st annual Meet of Champions is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Bennett Center in Toms River, and the NJSIAA has released the performance lists compiled from the various state meets this past weekend.

You can download the pdf file courtesy of New Jersey MileSplit here.

What a race for Tom Long today at the MAAC Championships at the Armory!

Long, a Cinnaminson High School graduate and Rider junior, PR’d for the fourth race in a row Sunday, running 4:15.77 for seventh place in the mile at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships at the 168th Street Armory.

Not bad for a guy who never broke 4:24 in high school!

Long went into the meet as the No. 10 seed with a season-best and PR of 4:18.46 at a meet at Boston University last month

Long’s improvement has been dramatic. His PR at Cinnaminson was 4:24.53 for 1,600 meters from the South Jersey Invitational at Delsea in the spring of 2016. He focused mainly on the 800 his first year at Rider and only ran a couple mile races before this past January with a collegiate best of 4:27.47 from last winter.

But he PR’d at 4:22.81 in a meet at Ocean Breeze the first week of January and then lowered that to 4:18.46 in a meet at Boston University in late January and lowered it again with his 4:17.27 in the trials Saturday.

That set him up for Sunday’s final, where he PR’d again with a 4:15.77, less than two seconds out of third. That’s the equivalent of a 4:14.29 for 1,600 meters, so that’s more than a 10-second PR from high school.

Long was out in 33.0, then ran 31.7, 32.0, 32.1 for 2:08.7 through 800 meters and came back in 2:07.1 on 31.9, 32.6, 32.2 and 30.4. That’s a 62.6 final 400.

Johannes Motschmann of Iona won the race in 4:11.17, just ahead of Evans Kibet of Siena, second in 4:11.76.

Thanks in great part to its large South Jersey contingent, Georgian Court won its second Eastern Collegiate Conference indoor track title in three years Saturday at the Ocean Breeze track in Staten Island, N.Y.

Georgian Court of Lakewood outscored St. Thomas Aquinas of Sparkhill, N.Y., 194-113.

Freshman William Goldsborough of Delsea won the shot put and took third in the weight throw, freshman Charles Wolef-Fields of Wildwood Catholic won the 60-meter dash and junior Devin Martin of Williamstown [via St. Joe’s Prep in Philly] won the triple jump for the Lions.

Let’s take a look at the five South Jersey athletes who contributed to Georgian Court’s overwhelming win:

William Goldsborough: The freshman from Delsea won the shot put with a 52-1 on his first throw of the finals moving him from fourth into first. He also PR’d in the weight throw with a 47-7 3/4.

DaShawn Lamar-Baldwin: A junior from Bridgeton who never broke 54.9 in high school, Lamar-Baldwin ran 50.46 for second place in the 400 and also anchored the Lions’ second-place 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:22.84, and took fifth in the triple jump with a 43-1 3/4.

Devin Martin: The Williamstown native out of St. Joe’s Prep in Philly won the triple jump with a personal-best 46-3 1/2 and ran the second leg on the second-place 1,600-meter relay team.

Kennedy Omari: A junior out of Cherry Hill East, Omari placed fifth in both the long jump with a 22-2 1/2 – an inch off his PR – and the high jump with a 5-10 clearance.

Alejandro Valdez: The Cape Atlantic League champ for Bridgeton last year, Valdez took third in the shot with a 48-11 throw.

Charles Wolef-Fields: A Cape May Courthouse native out and two-time sectional champ at Wildwood Catholic, Wolef-Fields won the 60-meter dash in 6.92 — 1-100th of a second off his PR — after a 6.94 in the trials. He also placed second in the 200 with a college personal-best 21.94, although he did run 21.73 in high school.

Georgian Court coach Mike Murawski is a native of Cinnaminson and graduate of Holy Cross and was the 2002 and 2003 Parochial A high jump champ and won BCSL titles in the high jump, intermediates, pole vault and long jump.

He attended Duquesne University, where he still holds school records in the high jump (6-8 1/4) and decathlon (6140).

It’s easy to point to Bishop Eustace’s distance depth as the main reason the Crusaders won their fifth consecutive state Parochial B title Saturday.

Led by double winner Connor Melko, Eustace scored 51 of its 68 points in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 on the way to a 68-65 win over Mater Dei of Middletown.

But don’t overlook the shot put.

It’s there that senior Joshua Mo uncorked a two-foot PR of 45-10 1/4 to win the shot and score 10 huge points to supplant what the distance team accomplished.

Considering Eustace won by three points — its thinnest margin of its five straight state indoor titles — that shot put was critical.

Mo’s previous PR was 43-10 1/2 at the a meet at Ocean Breeze earlier this month, and this is someone whose PR last winter was 37 feet and change and has an outdoor PR of 41-6 1/2.

So for him to bomb a 45-10 1/4 was huge for the Crusaders. That’s exactly the kind of improvement you look for from your senior leaders in the biggest meet of the year.

As for Melko, he ran 4:28.47 to win the 1,600 and 10:30.49 to win the 3,200, senior Sean May ran 2:03.39 to win the 800, and senior Andrew Massaro was third in the 1,600 in 4:45.73 and fourth in the 800 in 2:07.51. Seniors Manik Dhawan and Grant Melko also scored for the Eustace distance team, Dhawan taking fifth in the 1,600 in 4:50.21 and Grant Melko sixth in the 3,200 in 11:35.94.

Senior Nasir Menoken-El got a big point with a sixth place in the high hurdles after barely making the final with the eighth-fastest time in the trials. And Eustace’s 4-by-4 took sixth in 3:46.53.

Only Willingboro (14) and Haddonfield (11) have won more state titles indoors among South Jersey boys programs. Bridgeton also has six. Overall, Eustace ranks tied for 10th in the state with its six state titles.

Eustace won its first title in 2010, shared with St. Rose of Belmar, before starting its current streak of five straight championships in 2015.

2019: Eustace 68, Mater Dei 65
2018: Eustace 69, Mater Dei 59 1/2
2017: Eustace 66, Hudson Catholic 48
2016: Eustace 96, Hudson Catholic 67
2015: Eustace 62, Camden Catholic 46

Distance runners Derek Gess, junior Martin Riddell and senior Greg Eisenhower combined to score 30 of Haddonfield’s 47 points, Zachariah Murray won the 400, and the Bulldogs won their fourth state title in the last five years Saturday.

Haddonfield outscored Matawan 47-38.8 to win the state Group 2 title at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Gess  placed second in the 1,600 [4:18.68] and third in the 800 [1:58.00], Riddell was second in the 3,200 [9:37.82] and fifth in the 1,600 [PR 4:22.11] and Eisenhower was third in the 3,200 [indoor PR 9:38.15].

Murray won the 400 in 49.63 for 10 huge points out of the gate for the Bulldogs and also anchored Haddonfield’s fourth-place 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 3:30.96.

Senior Josh Montana tied his PR and set an indoor PR of 13-6 in taking fifth place in the pole vault.

Haddonfield won its first state indoor title in 1987, then won four straight from 2000 through 2003 and over the last decade has won in 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017 and this year. All came in Group 1 until the last two in Group 2.

The Bulldogs’ 11 overall state championships are fifth-most in state history.

There’s no slowing down the Winslow steamroller!

The Winslow girls won their second straight state Group 3 indoor state championship and their sixth in the last eight years, outscoring second-place Ramapo, 43-26.

In all Winslow has won eight indoor titles, plus a ninth as Edgewood. Only Columbia, with 10 titles from 1983 through 2014, has won more indoor girls state titles than Winslow.

As she has been so many times over the years, tireless senior Tionna Tobias starred for the Eagles with a fast dash-hurdles double.

Tobias won the 55-meter dash in 7.24 after a PR 7.23 in the trials and won the highs in 8.20, only 4-100ths off her PR of 8.16, set last winter in the Meet of Champions.

The state titles are Tobias’s fourth and fifth but her first on the track. The others came in the long jump and high jump.

Tobias’s best event, the long jump, isn’t contested at the indoor state meet, but she’ll have the chance to jump at Eastern’s next week. She was ranked 27th nationally last spring at 19-11 1/2.

Winslow also got points from junior Janeya Hammond [3rd in 400 in 59.43, 5th in 55, 7.37], freshman Jaia James [6th in 55, 7.39] and the 1,600-meter relay team, which ran 4:01.40.

Now, THAT’S a PR!

Gabriel Moronta lowered his 800 PR more than 2 1/2 seconds Saturday on his way to his first state title.

The Pleasantville junior ran away from the field with a 1:56.71 to win the state Group 2 800-meter run title Saturday at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

That’s No. 1 this year by a South Jersey half-miler and No. 4 in the state and No. 7 in Atlantic County indoor history, with six of the top-nine times in Atlantic County history coming from Pleasantville runners.

Moronta’s previous PR was a 1:59.48 at a meet at the Bennett Center in January. HIs fastest last year was a 2:02.44 outdoors and a 2:03.84 indoors, so he’s shown tremendous improvement this year at the Pleasantville 800 Factory.

On Saturday, Moronta led three runners under two minutes, with Matawan’s Dylan LoPresti second in 1:57.54 and Haddonfield’s Derek Gess third in 1:58.00.

Moronta was also fourth in the 400 with a personal-best 50.42 — his first time under 51 seconds indoors or out — and ran on P’ville’s third-place 1,600-meter relay time, which ran 3:29.47. Benjamin Clark, Kinderson Cajuste and Quentin Bundy joined Moronta on the 4-by-4 team.

ALL-TIME ATLANTIC COUNTY INDOOR 800 LIST
1:51.52 … Jacob Clark [Pleasantville], 2013
1:51.72 … Isaac Clark [Pleasantville], 2013
1:53.51 … Alan Laws [Pleasantville], 2007
1:53.68 … Ishmael Muhammad [Oakcrest], 2013
1:55.13 … Joe Lewis [Pleasantville], 1998
1:56.43 … Eric Barnes [Egg Harbor Twp.], 2017
1:56.71 … Gabriel Moronta [Pleasantville], 2019
1:56.73 … Dan Galeano [Absegami], 2010
1:56.77 … Larry Ramirez [Pleasantville], 2010